tawandamusarurwa
Arthur Choga
ON any given day, football legend Japhet Mparutsa’s Facebook page is alive with pictures and memories from his playing days.
Even people who had never heard of the great former national team, Dynamos, Black Rhinos and Darryn T goalkeeper now know and appreciate his role in local football.
Mparutsa has turned Facebook into his space.
He commands it the same way he used to command the penalty area by using a collection of images and stories to bring the joys and horrors of football in the 1980s to a new audience.
The 1982 Soccer Star of the Year has grown his followership to more than 10 000 through his storytelling.
Many tales, most of them anecdotal, are told of how good football was in the 1980s.
Footage from the old “Game of the Week” programme and international matches featuring the Warriors, as well as clubs, which ZBC-TV used to own, was reportedly lost in some fire decades ago.
Tales of how good these legends were are now left to the oratory skills of those who watched the games or listened to them on radio.
This is why Mparutsa seized an incredible opportunity to archive local football.
He played for the two biggest clubs of his time, winning the Soccer Star of the Year Award with Dynamos, before crossing the floor to join newly formed Zimbabwe National Army side Black Rhinos, where he lifted the league and ZIFA Cup in 1984, in the club’s first season in the then Super League.
He later moved to Darryn T after an immensely successful stint at Black Rhinos.
Later, he also played for South African side Bloemfontein Celtic.
The “Short Cat”, as he was known, played for the Warriors and made several forays into continental football, both with his clubs and with national teams from Under-20 to the Warriors.
In 2016, he released his biography (co-authored by Lot Chitakasha) titled “My Story”.
He has taken the time to chronicle his journey and provide a glimpse of the often-hidden world of football camps and travels.
His clear grasp of issues and sharp humour make all the engagements on social media enjoyable and easy to follow.
He is not the only one.
Former Warriors right-back, Blackpool striker and Aachen defensive link-man (yes, he made a few positional changes) George Mbwando is another former player who regularly brightens up the social media space with his tales of life in camp and his travels, particularly his time in Germany with Lubeck, Alemannia Aachen and other clubs in Poland.
Mbwando’s tales are loaded with juicy insider information, spiced up with street lingo and sometimes almost hard-to-believe stuff.
Having been in football circles for a number of years, I can relate to all this.
It may be time for him to put together a book as well. Alois Bunjira hosts a Facebook show where he interviews former players.
The depth of information and sheer historical value of what he is putting together is astounding.
The show has featured some well-known and other not-so-well-known players who made an impact at their clubs and are revered to this day.
Mparutsa, Mbwando and Bunjira represent a fraction of the football players who graced local fields and are fondly remembered by fans.
Others are a fading memory.
But they all can add to a body of work that has a market, listenership and viewership.
Sports fans are nostalgic, and football fans may be the worst of the lot.
Fans are starved of factual and detailed information on the legends they hear much about, some of whom are fading away and dying without much being done to curate their greatness.
Having former players who already have an aptitude for digital spaces presents a golden opportunity to tell the story of Zimbabwean football.
Any serious sports historian with such resources at his disposal can create a mind-blowing picture of the history of the beautiful game in Zimbabwe, as told by people who played it at the highest level.
It is time to tap into the gold mines around us. The rich history stored in the minds of greats such as Madinda Ndlovu, Alexander Maseko, Sunday Chidzambwa and Charles Mhlauri needs to be brought to a wider audience.
We must get a better appreciation of what made the great football sides from Mhangura, Shabanie and Hwange tick.
There is pure gold at our disposal.
We need to follow Mparutsa’s lead.
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Online Reporter